A sensitivity analysis of common operating systems to ROP attacks

Return Oriented Programming (ROP) is a well know technique used by attackers to build the last generation of stack-based attacks. ROP uses small code sequences (``gadgets'') to invoke code from the stack, but bypassing the NX bit security protection, allowing attackers to control the execution flow. This paper analyzes some widespread operating systems, profiling the gadgets that can readily be used, and deducing what kind of payloads they allow to build. Understanding which gadgets are usable from the attacker's perspective is of great practical importance to devise countermeasures to the possible attacks.